There are just about as many things to do in New York as there are people that live here. This is our “must-do” checklist for every quintessential New Yorker to complete. How many can you check off?
1. Go to an outdoor performance
2. Get a soft pretzel or a hotdog from a food cart
3. Take an aimless stroll through Central Park
4. Visit a hidden beach spot
6. Party on a rooftop you’re not supposed to be partying on
7. Record a street performance and upload it to Facebook for no less than a hundred likes
8. Watch the sun set over the Brooklyn Bridge
9. Photobomb a tourist’s picture of Freedom Tower, or the Statue of Liberty, or some other landmark
10. Wave at the camera when you’re walking past ABC news
11. Get a dog
12. Get another dog
13. Give a dollar to a street musician
14. Miss your train
15. Barely make your train
16. Wait too long for your train
17. Spend the night in a museum
18. (Mis)Interpret a piece of modern art
20. J-walk (almost getting hit by a cab is optional, not encouraged)
21. See the ball drop in Time Square on New Year’s
22. Meet a celebrity
23. Go to a Broadway show
24. Visit the 9/11 Memorial Museum
25. Go to a trivia night
26. Go to a New York team’s home game
27. Play a game that you’re (never) too old to be playing
28. Ice skate in Rockefeller Center
29. Attend a political protest
30. Play speed chess in the park with a stranger
31. Make a budget
32. Break your budget
33. Make a wish in a fountain
34. Pretend you’re interested in buying a couture accessory/piece of clothing on 5th Avenue
35. Spend the weekend at your friend’s place in the Catskills/Hamptons
36. Go to an adult Halloween party
37. Smoke on somebody’s fire escape
38. See the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade
40. Have dinner in Hell’s Kitchen
41. Stay out until 6am
42. Get kinky
43. Go to a farmer’s market
44. Order a beer only brewed in New York
45. Listen to some live indie music
46. Explore alternative methods of getting to work (a horse, rollerblading, etc.)
47. Inadvertently walk through a construction site
48. Ride a ferry
50. Decide to stay because NYC is the only place to be